Three 2nd Round Flashbacks

Didn't have time for a full series recap, so three moments that stick out in the Devils history of the 2nd round.

1994 Devils vs Bruins Game 4: Devils trailing series 2-1

After, rookie goalie Martin Brodeur played exceptionally well in his 1st ever playoff series with .933 save percentage in a 7 game victory over the Sabres (by the way, Hasek put up a .950! save percentage that series), Brodeur found himself on the bench after two games of the second round. A 6-5 OT loss had put the Devils in a 2-0 series hole, and it was up to Chris Terreri to get them out of it going to Boston.

The Devils and Terreri won game 3, so it only made sense to go with Terreri for game 4. Down 3-2 going into the 3rd period, the Devils were on the verge of falling into an insurmountable series deficit. The Devils tied the game on a goal by 24-year-old Ben Hankinson in his playoff debut (Hankinson would go on to play 27 more NHL games, and that would be his last NHL goal scored). The Devils needed a Bernie Nicholls goal with under 8 minutes left to tie the game once more. That would be the last of regulation as game 4 would head to OT.

Overtime had been unkind to the Devils up to this point -- a 4OT loss to the Sabres in game 6 of round 1, and a 6-5 loss in game 2 against Bruins. And their 3rd OT game was not going well. Through 15 minutes the Bruins were dominating the play with the Devils unable to get the puck out of their own zone. The Devils OT luck would change on a designed play between Holik and Richer off a faceoff outside the Bruins zone. Holik won the faceoff forward and a speedy Richter got the puck and flew past the defenders for the breakaway OT goal. It's the kind of goal you just can't imagine being scored in today's NHL. Since there's no YouTube video of it, it's the kind of goal you'll either have to imagine or can still picture in your head.

The Devils would go on to win the next two games and advance to face the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals. In game 1 of that series, Stephane Richer would once again score the OT winner on a breakaway. The Devils playoff run would end in heartbreak, but it would have even been more disappointing if they lost game 4 to the Bruins and never met the Rangers.

Quotes:

"I won once in overtime here before," Richer said of an overtime winner he had for the Canadiens in the 1991 playoffs in a series the Bruins captured in seven games."I've had a tough time on breakaways, but I went to the forehand this time and it was a great feeling to score. Sometimes you need a good goal to get your confidence back."

2001 Devils vs Leafs Game 4: Devils leading series 2-1

Tie Domi wanted revenge against Scott Niedermayer. He was going to make sure of it and wasn't afraid who knew it. The anger stemmed from a Niedermayer cross-check to Domi's face in game 2 of the series. Apparently, Domi made it known he was ready to end Scott's career because of it. Niedermayer would say that he was watching Tie every time he was on the ice with him but with under 20 seconds left and turning up ice far away from the puck, there was no way he could anticipate Domi coming.

One of the great 'what if' moments in NHL history for me is what would have happened if Scott Stevens wasn't caged up in the penalty box while the incident took place. Would he have killed Tie Domi that night? Would all 4 officials struggle to separate him from Domi. Would that have been his last NHL game ever?

Domi's life would be spared that night, but he would be suspended for the rest of the playoffs, and an additional 8 regular season games because the Leafs did not advance past the second round. But first he had to cry them crocodile tears during a press conference because he had to explain to his poor son what 'suspended' meant. It was just so sad because Tie was playing his best hockey of his career, and now he wouldn't get to help his team anymore. That's all he wanted to do. Apparently his best hockey was 3 shots in 8 games. Poor guy.

Niedermayer would miss the rest of the series and game 1 of the Conference Finals.

Quotes:

"Disgusting," said forward John Madden. "Irresponsible, a person like that shouldn't be given the right to run around with a hockey stick in his hand and play in the league," Madden added

''More than scary,'' said Lou Lamoriello, the Devils' general manager. ''Disgrace is the word.''

''He said he was going to take a suspension on me,'' said Niedermayer

''It's pretty bad when a guy says he'll get him all series long,'' Gomez said. ''He's made some comments in front of the bench.''

2003 Devils vs Lighting Game 5: Devils leading the series 3-1

This really was a forgettable series. I don't wish for anyone to rewatch any game of this series. For me, I'll remember it for two things: Scott Stevens taking a disturbing slap shot to the head, and then being heroized when he returned the next game to score a goal in just under 28 minutes of action. Looking back, that's probably one of the dumber things anyone can do, and ultimately, it played a big part in his career ending so early. The second thing would be one of the great goal reactions in Devils history.

Grant Marshall might be one of the Devils best deadline acquisitions ever. Given to the Devils for a 4th round pick by Columbus, Marshall had a ton of playoff experience with the Stars but amazingly had gone his first 59 playoff games without a goal. That drought would last 6 more games before scoring his 1st playoff goal in game 2 of this series. Then the next game he would score again. And then there was Marshall, playing 32 minutes on the top line, of course, in the 3rd OT scoring what would undoubtedly be the biggest goal of his career. That reaction man. Jubilation, euphoria, bewilderment. There's a stupid saying, 'act like you've been there before', well there was no mistaking that Marshall had never been "there" before. He'd never been anywhere remotely close to "there".

MSG director did such a brutal job with the OT winning goal, so for better video of Grant's reaction, go to the link below. Seriously, why would you possibly think after the Devils win the series in the 2nd longest game in franchis history that we should hold a shot on John Grahame for 10 seconds?

1) For any post 2005 lockout fan, the Domi thing must blow their minds. Although having Nieds out at that point of the game was dumb. You're not scoring 2 goals in 30 seconds with the goalie pulled back then.

2) Yep, that Lightning Game 5 was terrible. lol. They were playing that game on a pond.

Devils were trailing 2-0 early and were still behind by that score with the second period coming to a close, when Elias (with someone all over him) deflects a shot to score the Devils' first goal of the contest:

I wish I could say I remember this game, but I don't...I know I watched it on TV, but I don't really remember much of it.

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THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

Martin Brodeur: THE MOST ALL-TIME WINS!, 12 straight seasons of 30+ wins, 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies, and zero respect from too many so-called Devils "fans" who are either too young or too bandwagon to remember the much darker days of Sean Burke, Craig Billington, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier, and the talented but overwhelmed Chico Resch, among many others.

It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

#30 FOREVER!

20 out of 1,946 njdevs.com members agree: CR1976 is the Most Knowledgable Poster of 2008! Victory is mine...oh yes, victory is mine!

Devils were trailing 2-0 early and were still behind by that score with the second period coming to a close, when Elias (with someone all over him) deflects a shot to score the Devils' first goal of the contest:

I still to this day wonder how Domi gets this sort of reputation as an a$$hole, but a "lovable" one. The guy was one of the dirtiest players I have ever watched from beginning to end and is maybe second only to Avery or Cooke in this respect. He really had no conscience and his hit on Niedermayer was clearly pre-meditated and was only given what amounted to a 10-12 game suspension. In this day and age and given his history he would have been given at least 30 games, probably more.

Out of all the dirtbag players out there I have never seen so many hockey fans in general outside of Devils fans give him a pass on so much of his crap. I really wish Stevens wasn't in the box when it happened and Domi probably only took that shot because he knew he was in the box.

I still to this day wonder how Domi gets this sort of reputation as an a$$hole, but a "lovable" one. The guy was one of the dirtiest players I have ever watched from beginning to end and is maybe second only to Avery or Cooke in this respect. He really had no conscience and his hit on Niedermayer was clearly pre-meditated and was only given what amounted to a 10-12 game suspension. In this day and age and given his history he would have been given at least 30 games, probably more.

Out of all the dirtbag players out there I have never seen so many hockey fans in general outside of Devils fans give him a pass on so much of his crap. I really wish Stevens wasn't in the box when it happened and Domi probably only took that shot because he knew he was in the box.

I think there's a lot of truth to that. He also waited until the very end of the game. I think he knew he probably knew what he was doing was going to get him kicked out for a while...he couldn't possibly think he was going to get away with something like that. Especially with Nieds needing to be taken off in a stretcher.

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THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

Martin Brodeur: THE MOST ALL-TIME WINS!, 12 straight seasons of 30+ wins, 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies, and zero respect from too many so-called Devils "fans" who are either too young or too bandwagon to remember the much darker days of Sean Burke, Craig Billington, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier, and the talented but overwhelmed Chico Resch, among many others.

It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

#30 FOREVER!

20 out of 1,946 njdevs.com members agree: CR1976 is the Most Knowledgable Poster of 2008! Victory is mine...oh yes, victory is mine!

I think there's a lot of truth to that. He also waited until the very end of the game. I think he knew he probably knew what he was doing was going to get him kicked out for a while...he couldn't possibly think he was going to get away with something like that. Especially with Nieds needing to be taken off in a stretcher.

I just remember the main camera following the play didn't quite catch the hit as it was a little behind the play but from the crowd and announcers reaction you knew something happened. I just remember seeing that official sitting in the penalty box with Stevens looking like he wanted to run out crying after seeing the wild caged-animal reaction Stevens had to the hit.

I was at the next home game in that series and remember many people created "Tie Dummy" effigies and brought them to the arena.

I just remember the main camera following the play didn't quite catch the hit as it was a little behind the play but from the crowd and announcers reaction you knew something happened. I just remember seeing that official sitting in the penalty box with Stevens looking like he wanted to run out crying after seeing the wild caged-animal reaction Stevens had to the hit.

I was at the next home game in that series and remember many people created "Tie Dummy" effigies and brought them to the arena.

The announcers on this clip first kept saying that Niedermayer somehow wound up looking like he was dead completely on his own.

THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

Martin Brodeur: THE MOST ALL-TIME WINS!, 12 straight seasons of 30+ wins, 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies, and zero respect from too many so-called Devils "fans" who are either too young or too bandwagon to remember the much darker days of Sean Burke, Craig Billington, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier, and the talented but overwhelmed Chico Resch, among many others.

It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

#30 FOREVER!

20 out of 1,946 njdevs.com members agree: CR1976 is the Most Knowledgable Poster of 2008! Victory is mine...oh yes, victory is mine!

This is the famous incident between Tie Domi of the Maple Leafs and Scott Niedermayer of the Devils. It's from game four of the team's 2001 second round playoff series.

In the dying seconds of the game, Niedermayer viciously headbutts Domi's elbow. To make a bad situation even worse, Niedermayer then lays down on the ice for a nap, refusing to leave until they bring him a portable bed.

As a direct result of this incident, Domi was unable to play again until well into the next season.

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Official NJDevs.com Keeper of Gory Corey Schwab, Mike Peluso, Troy Crowder, Jeff Frazee, and Rich Shulmistra."The Devils are that zombie that takes an ax to the skull, a bullet to the temple and is set on fire … and yet keeps lumbering along to the annoyance of all the other zombies." - Puck Daddy

Harry Neale was an all-time Leafs homer as well a Domi homer. Their reaction to the whole thing was pathetic, but I will excuse them for initially missing the hit. How often do you ever see a player left unconscious away from the play? Pretty much never. It's hard to fathom that Niedermayer was lying on the ice because of a cheap shot. But that just shows how disgusting Domi's act was.

Edited by devilsrule33, 12 May 2014 - 12:28 PM.

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"The Stanley Cup has fallen from the Stars. The new millennium has its first Stanley Cup Champion, and it's the New Jersey Devils." Mike Miller calling the Devils winning the Stanley Cup.

"It goes to the captain and then there are handoffs during a skate around the ice" Mike Emrick as Scott Stevens is being presented the Stanley Cup.

I still hate the Leafs and their stupid fans to this day because of that series. I don't think I've ever taken as much satisfaction in the Devils winning a playoff series as 2001 against the Leafs...until of course "Henrique, it's over!"

Yeah 2000 and 2001 made me a Leaf-hater for life. I've never been more furious at a questionable hit/cheap shot against one of our players than I was at the Domi cheap shot on Nieds... It was enraging, as Stevens illustrated nicely from the penalty box. Beating them both those years was sweet. Toronto can eat sh!t.

games like that elias natural hat trick game are the kind of games we should be seeing on MSG during the summer.

But... but.... 1994!!!!

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Official NJDevs.com Keeper of Gory Corey Schwab, Mike Peluso, Troy Crowder, Jeff Frazee, and Rich Shulmistra."The Devils are that zombie that takes an ax to the skull, a bullet to the temple and is set on fire … and yet keeps lumbering along to the annoyance of all the other zombies." - Puck Daddy

Was that 2001 Game 4 nationally televised in the US or was it only on FSNY? There's a specific image in my mind of Stevens pounding on the glass that really brought home the caged animal comparisons, but I'm not seeing it in any of the posted clips.

One other variable to the what-if scenario is that had Stevens not been in the box, he might not have seen the hit as it happened.

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of the Devils' mascot, NJ Devil, and of all mascots far and wide.

IT IS VERY HARD TO WIN ONE STANLEY CUP, FORGET ABOUT THREE... and maybe it's high time some of you actually APPRECIATED THAT instead of treating it like it's some flipping birthright because for some random reason you rooted for the damn Devils!!!!!

Was that 2001 Game 4 nationally televised in the US or was it only on FSNY? There's a specific image in my mind of Stevens pounding on the glass that really brought home the caged animal comparisons, but I'm not seeing it in any of the posted clips.

One other variable to the what-if scenario is that had Stevens not been in the box, he might not have seen the hit as it happened.

On the embedded clip, it looks like it is edited just as Stevens gets really hot. Maybe there.

Domi was such a dick. Just look at him at 1:25, almost like he is denying doing anything on purpose. In the press conference, he was saying that he didn't agree with the decision. What an idiot.

When I was reading some articles about the incident, I came across too many dumb quotes from his teammates. Hockey coaches and players need to stop overrating these plugs contributions and stop defending them when they do dumb sh!t.

"Toronto's Gary Roberts, who spoke with Domi, said, "No one likes to see a guy get hurt like that. In Tie's defense, from what he had to say, I think they kind of crossed paths and ran into each other. And let's hope that's all it was."

Many of the players were talking about how missed he would be. He had such a "good" game yet he took two minor penalties in the 1st period.

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"The Stanley Cup has fallen from the Stars. The new millennium has its first Stanley Cup Champion, and it's the New Jersey Devils." Mike Miller calling the Devils winning the Stanley Cup.

"It goes to the captain and then there are handoffs during a skate around the ice" Mike Emrick as Scott Stevens is being presented the Stanley Cup.